Dangling 100m high above the Costa Rican Rain Forest

Nice your back! Or to all these new here: welcome to my journey. In the last blog blogpost I talked about how we would rent a car to go on a weekend trip to Monteverde, a rainforest located in the northeast of Costa Rica. So lets hop right in to it!

First of all its probably worth mentioning that renting a car in Costa Rica isn't a cheap undertaking. We paid 200 Dollars for two days but only after bargaining it down from an original price of 250. So here's my tip: Try booking a car as early on as possible as we rented the last ones available for that weekend, which was probably the reason why they set the price so high. Also try to bargain a bit, even if it might feel awkward at first, you never know what you will get from it (which in our case was quite a lot). So we ended up renting two cars and on 6 AM Saturday morning we were headed off to Monteverde which is about a 3 hour drive away from Samara.

As we were driving for about 2 hours there were suddenly two police officers standing on the side of the road taking the other car of our group aside. We stopped too, as we were traveling in a group and we wanted to wait for them. That was a mistake as it turned out. The policer officer also approached us and claimed that we exceeded the speed limit. Also, when he was asking for our passport we had to learn that apparently in Costa Rica the drivers always have to carry a passport with them. Only the ID was apparently not enough and they needed the to see the stamp with the date of our entry to Costa Rica. We tried to explain to them that we didn't know that an ID wasn't sufficient but they didn't care and so it happened that they wanted to give us a fine of around 1000 Dollars (!!!) for surpassing the speed limit and for the missing passport. Also, they said we would need to drive back to Samara and get the passport if we wanted to get any further, which would have ruined the whole trip, as we were already too far away from Samara and turning back would mean we would loose and additional 4h to traveling. Funnily, the group sitting in the other car told us later that their driver told the police that he didn't have enough money with him to pay the fine. The police officer then looked at his wallet and asked him how much he had with him and said that those 20'000 colones (which are around 35 Dollar only) would be enough then. This was really strange considering that the original price was set at a few hundred dollars and if've never heard of police officers adapting the price of a fine before which made me a little suspicious.

Meanwhile I tried to convince the police officer that we didn't know about the need to carry a passport and that next time we would know better. Also we tried explaining to him that we didn't know about the speed limit as everyone was driving our speed or even faster. As my voice started to sound desperate and I had to suppress the feeling of bursting into tears something strange happened: He suddenly told us that its ok, we can drive on and don't need to pay anything. We were really surprised and didn't know what to do with it while at the same time feeling very relieved for the sudden change of mind. Until now we don't know why they had that sudden change of mind, but after researching a bit in the internet and talking to some ticos (thats what the inhabitants of costa rica are called) we know that they were only transit police and that probably the money we would have paid would have been bribe money and used to their own advantage. So for anyone traveling around Costa Rica: Be suspicious and don't pay the fine right away, especially not if they keep telling you different things and making price adaptations!

After that little incident we finally could go on and drive up the bumpy roads of the hilly Monteverde. We were really glad that we had our 4x4 cars but it cost them quite some effort to get up the hill (or mountain) nevertheless. It seems like we got rewarded for the strain we experienced with the police as we had to stop midway as we were witness to this beautiful sight:

Little later, we arrived in the little town of Monteverde and got settled in the hostel we would stay for the night. The hostel we stayed at was called the Sloth Backpackers and I would definitely stay there again as the price was very fair and the breakfast was included in the price (in the morning a woman served free pancakes and fruits). So after we got changed  (it was unexpectedly cold up there) we headed off to the Monteverde cloud forest biological reserve which is a protected zone of rainforest of over 5'000 hectares of land. It was very misty (therefore the name "Cloud forest") and the paths were quite soggy. There was a very peaceful vibe going on as there weren't that many people that afternoon which was probably due to the fact that they recommended we should go rather in the morning as then the view from the observation platform would be better and that most people would therefore go there in the morning. We didn't see any animals so be aware of that before going there, as most animals only show up at night when all the people are gone. For all the people interested in seeing animals: You are probably best off booking a Night tour through the jungle (with a guide!) in order to catch sight of the wildlife. Nevertheless I was impressed by the diversity of the flora and the mystic vibes created by the high amount of moist in the air. We walked around for a bit, took some pictures on the quite famous red hanging bridge and walked up to the observation platform where you apparently could see both coasts of Costa Rica: the pacific and the Carribbean side. Unfortunately, it was so misty that we hardly could see further than 2m (again: best go there in the morning for better views!). Still, we were able to shoot some great pictures so it was definitely worth a visit.

The next day we had something more active and adventurous planned: We spontaneously booked a Canopy tour where we would be able to enjoy Costa Rica's longest zipline amongst other things, which was a stunning 1500m long! (No one knew that that would be actually the one where you go head first with arms open, without any control of speed whatsoever). So we arrived there and got all the instructions we needed to get and then started our little crazy adventure. The whole pack costed around 45 Dollars (as we were a group of 10 we got a little discount) and the prize included a decent amount of ziplines and the more courageous ones could even do the "Mega Tarzan Swing" which is a free fall from an about 40m high platform. It was definitely worth the price as we spend around 3 hours in the park to do the whole tour. The last two stops where the Superman Ziplines, which I feared the most when I saw how far up they were. Without kidding you were literally flying 100m above the ground without any control of speed, so considering that plus the fact that I'm scared of heights anyway seems to justify my fear. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the tour and even though it sometimes cost me quite an effort to do it I coped well-until the last Superman Zipline. I already noticed before that the wind was quite strong that day but didn't think any further until I happened to get stopped midway by the wind and ended up dangling 100m high above the rainforest while the wind was shuffling me around like crazy. I have to admit that I never felt so scared in my life as in that moment and I didn't dare to move as I feared that somehow something would open up and I would fall down. So after hanging there for what felt like an eternity (which in reality was only around 5 min) I finally got "rescued" by a tour guide. As soon as he reached me-me still in tears and screaming-I clutched on to him like a helpless little baby monkey. I literally could feel the weight coming off my shoulders when I was finally back on steady ground. My legs were still shaky and it took me a while to calm down again, but one thing was for sure: I wasn't going to do the Tarzan Swing anymore. I somehow felt superstitious and I saw the former incident as a sign telling me to stop right there (or maybe I was just searching for an excuse not to do the Tarzan Swing anyway, who knows). Anyway, that for sure cost me some nerves and I guess it has been a while since I produced as much adrenaline as I did on that day. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to show but I needed both of my hands free (safety first) plus I don't possess an action camera which I could have attached to my helmet (so far I don't have an action camera, but thats on my list hehe).

So would I do it again? Definitely. Also the guides did a really good job and were really kind and understanding. So I definitely recommend booking your tour with them: Aventura Canopy Tour (*not sponsored*).

There would have plenty of other things we could have done in Monteverde too, for example the Night jungle tour (as I've told you before) or a Chocolate and Coffee tour. But our time there was limited so we had to chose wisely (and so we did I think). But I've heard from other people that the Chocolate and Coffee tour is highly recommended (even with kids), still those kinds of tours are offered throughout Costa Rica and there is no particular need to do it in Monteverde per se.

So that was our trip to Monteverde. Next time I will tell you about my failed first surf attempts which ended up with me at the emergency doctor's office. Autsch!

Until then...Hasta luego!